


$50 for a ‘Date’ Isn’t So Bad, Right?

by fishmanfictions



Category: Detroit Evolution - Fandom, detroit become human
Genre: #detroit evolution, #fake dating au, #fakedating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25481122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishmanfictions/pseuds/fishmanfictions
Summary: Nines had just been asked out on a ‘date’, which was really just Gavin needed someone to cover him, because one night he got drunk and claimed he had a boyfriend. No one believed him, so he said that he’d take this ‘boyfriend’ on a double date.Gavin gets drunk (no surprise there) and has to sea with the consequences of his actions. But does he have to do it without someone to torture with him?
Relationships: Tina Chen (Detroit: Become Human)/Valerie Morales-Chen





	$50 for a ‘Date’ Isn’t So Bad, Right?

“No way, Gavin,” Nines walked down the hall, his hands making an ‘X’. 

“Oh come on! Just one time, it’s not even a real date!” Gavin pleaded, following him. 

Nines had just been asked out on a ‘date’, which was really just Gavin needed someone to cover him, because one night he got drunk and claimed he had a boyfriend. No one believed him, so he said that he’d take this ‘boyfriend’ on a double date. It was something out of a rom-com, if Nines was completely honest. And Nines didn’t like rom-coms. 

“Why would you even say all that? Honestly,” Nines was just speechless at the offer. 

“I was drunk! And anyways, it’s a free dinner. Although it's with Tina and Valerie, so prepare for that,” Gavin tried the bribing route, but introduced a semi-con? Tina and Val are great, in Nines’ opinion, but a handful nonetheless. 

Free dinner wasn’t enough for Nines to put up with Gavin’s bullshit, “Gotta give me something more,” He rubbed his thumb, index and middle finger together. ‘Money.’

“Yeah, I got money, how much would you like?” Gavin pulled out a wallet, and nearly dropped it as they were walking so fast, and pulled out a few bills. “Umm, is fifty dollars good?”

The offer stopped Nines dead in his tracks. “Where did you get fifty whole dollars? What are you, a part-time drug dealer?” 

Fifty dollars as a college student was kind of insane, unless you have a good job or have a scholarship you’re basically broke as shit. At least, if you were Nines or Ada, you were broke. Some people were lucky, Nines supposed. 

“Yeah, I totally look like I sell drugs,” Gavin laughed. He wearing a green shirt and jeans, nothing like the stereotypical drug dealer trench coats and fedora you see in safety videos. “So do you want it or not?”

“You’re joking right? Of course I want it!” Nines reached for the money, but Gavin pulled it away. 

“Uh-uh, tin can, not until it’s over,” He put the money back into his wallet. “Gotta promise me you’ll do it.”

Wow, that’s one bold move, even for Gavin. Nines wasn’t a liar, but he doesn’t make many promises, let alone keep them. Just not his style, and no one ever asks for favors, promises, or anything of the sort. This was going to be a fun time, if everything went right. 

“Whatever,” Nines rolled his eyes at the nickname. “When is it?”

“Tonight.” 

“You’re pulling my leg, again,” Nines was ticked off, and ready to punch Gavin. Tonight?! Of course he didn’t have enough time for a warning, at last Nines didn’t have anything to do tonight. 

“Yeah, sorry. No one would go, so my last resort was you!” He said, as if making it better. 

Other people were asked by Gavin? Well, they were stupid to turn down a free meal and $50, but Nines wasn’t complaining. 

“Wow. Thanks,” Nines couldn’t believe him sometimes. 

“It’s going to be fun, I swear! Cover stories, anything you wanna do, we can do it! Just please,” Gavin put a hand on Nines’ shoulder, who shook it off immediately. “Just give me this one thing? Eternal embarrassment is something I’d rather... avoid?”

Nines sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Well, he might as well just do it. This one time, and probably not the last, Nines would do Gavin a favor. 

“Fine. I’ll get ready, just text me the time,” He caved in, to the utter delight of Gavin. 

“Terrific, I’ll give you a backstory in a bit, so stick to that!” He grinned, and ran off somewhere. 

Only after a few hours, and Nines was getting ready, did it really set in what he was about to do. He’s been friends with Gavin for a long time, but they had been falling out of contact due to his studies, and a recent fight, so this was going to be more than awkward, but fun nonetheless. 

So, Gavin’s backstory/cover, since they haven't spoken in a few days, was that they had a bit of a fight and decided to take a break. Which was actually kind of true about their friendship, Gavin had made some poor choices, and Nines thought he should distance himself from all that. So, the only challenge would be acting- Nines couldn’t even think of the word without gagging- ‘affectionate’. 

After thirty minutes, and Nines couldn’t figure out what to wear, he decided to text Gavin. 

“Fancy clothes?” Nines texted. 

“Ish, whatever you’d wear at a semi-formal,” He responded. 

“So semi-formal clothes?” 

“That’s what I said dumbass” Gavin said. 

Nines our down his phone. Semi-formal. He could do that. Luckily, he had a button-up shirt that wasn’t too “I’m going to a funeral” fancy, but more “first ‘date’ because my dick of a friend got drunk”. It looked pretty well, it was nice, white, and patterned with small dots. He paired the top with a leather jacket, and some black pants. All together, he looked pretty okay. 

Ding! Nines grabbed his phone off of his bed. It was Gavin. 

“You ready yet? Meet me in the parking garage,” He said. 

“Ok, omw,” Nines typed out, and started to gather his things. 

Their school didn’t have any dorms, so Nines lived in an apartment that the school had him in for half price. So, basically an off-campus dorm that non-students could live on. 

If Nines was honest, he was always up for some mischief. Be it pranks, faking something (like on a date with someone), anything within the legal limits in the state of Michigan, he was down. 

Walking down to the parking garage, Nines texted Ada. 

“If you don’t see me tomorrow send help,” He said. 

“Why???” She asked. 

“Going on a fake date with Gavin,” He responded. 

Left on read. Welp, at least someone would know when he died, from embarrassment, or maybe Gavin and Tina killing him. If he didn’t play the part well enough, it was probably going to result in a tag team murder. 

“Yo, Nines!” Gavin called for his car, he was parked right outside the entrance door. 

“Jeez, give me some space,” Nines had almost walked into his car. 

“Get off your phone and I will,” Gavin winked at him. 

“We don’t need to start now, you can do whatever when we’re in front of Tina and Valerie.”

“Ooh! Whatever?” Gavin joked, and Nines went to slap him. “Joking! I was joking… unless?”

Nines punched Gavin’s shoulder pretty hard, getting a, “Come on dude!” He deserved it, so Nines didn’t really care. 

“And we’re off!” Gavin said cheerfully, as they drove out of the parking garage. 

“You sure you want to do this?” Gavin asked about 10 minutes into their ride. 

“I mean, fifty dollars is on the line, but not really,” Nines tilted his head. “Although it’s nice to hang with you again.”

Gavin’s face changed slightly, from his normal resting bitch face, to somewhat touched, “Yeah, man. Thanks a ton for the favor.” He smiled. 

“Mischief is my middle name.”

“Nah, you don’t have a middle name,” Gavin laughed. 

“Haha, very funny. Androids can give themselves middle names if we want, I can change it to Mischief,” Nines smirked. 

“If you do, I will literally kill you,” He punched Nines’ arm, receiving a, “Why!” and a dramatic pose in response. 

“But for real, if I got a middle name what would it be?” Nines asked, humoring the idea. 

“Jeremiah,” Gavin said, trying and failing to hide a huge grin on his face. . 

“That’s not it, inside jokes are not legal names!” Nines laughed. 

The joke came from online friends, who sometimes wrote words ‘l i k e t h i s’, and one time they wrote ‘j e r e m i a h’. It was the funniest thing to them. 2:00 am humor, he supposed. 

“Anyways, we are,” Gavin started to look a bit nervous, but the expression only grew in intensity. “We are here!”

“You good?” Nines checked as he got out of the car. 

Gavin looked kinda pale, as if everything that’s about to happen hit him, “Yep. Totally fine,” He squeaked. 

“Liar.”

Gavin turned to Nines, “I’m fucking nervous, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am! Who wouldn’t be, going on a fake date with their semi-friend?” Nines squinted at Gavin. “At least there’s no PDA, that would absolutely be a dealbreaker for me.”

“True, true,” Gavin seemed a bit less pale at that fact, which, at least, was an improvement, nothing besides hand holding, he could do that. 

Nines opened the car door for Gavin, reaching a hand out. Even though it would technically be Gavin’s job to be ‘romantic’ or whatever, he was having a bit of a time, so Nines just- did it. 

Tina and Val were already there, they both texted the two. Asking for their table, they heard Tina and Val before they saw them. Tina was talking about work, Nines assumed, while Val was talking over her. Once they saw Gavin and Nines, they both waved, although both seemed a bit shocked. 

“Holy shit, you’re dating Nines?” Val asked, eyes wide. 

“You’re dating him?” Tina glanced at Gavin, as in, ‘you could do better, seriously’. 

“I know right? Actually, we took a break until apparently something happened a few days or so ago,” Nines smiled, and jabbed a thumb at Gavin. 

“Oh for real? That’s why you weren’t really talking?” Val asked, but she looked kinda relieved? Nines wasn’t sure. 

No one was ever told the reason they don’t talk, so it was plausible, at the very least. Luckily, the two guys kept their lives pretty private. 

“Yeah, I kinda-“ Gavin cringed a little. “I don’t back down from a challenge, and the other night was a pretty big challenge.”

Tina laughed, “That’s more than true, Gavin.” She took a second to word her next phrase right. “It’s one of the only known facts about the universe: ‘Gavin is a stubborn prick’.” She gestured philosophically, as of she had said something so very profound. 

Nines had to hide a grin with his fist, and he saw Valerie doing the same. They shared a knowing glance, “Our partners are so weird,” their eyes said. 

After their drinks came, the conversations really started. 

“Why haven’t you guys made it official that you were dating?” Valerie asked the two. 

“I mean-“ Gavin cut Nines off. 

“We just didn’t want to put a label on it,” Gavin realized how cheesy that sounded, and clarified, “Moving pretty slow, you know?”

“Ah. Yeah, Tina wasn’t like that, so I was the one who wanted to slow things down,” Valerie said, relating. 

“Well,” Tina started, defensive. She stopped, and tilted her head. “Actually, no defense for that, if I’m honest,” She laughed, and the Val shrugged smugly. 

Unfortunately, the women took their time during the date, asking hard questions. Nines was suspecting that they knew, but thankfully both Gavin and himself were prepared. Their surprisingly simple backstory covered more than they initially thought, but they also took improv classes, which they played off as a date they went on before they took a break. 

“Jeez, I still can’t believe I never realized you were together!” Tina laughed in shock. “I mean you even looked in love, super obvious.”

Those words sent Nines reeling. For real? They looked in love? But they weren’t! Although, if Nines did really think about it, he might have had a crush on Gavin, but when they fought he decided to quit that. But did Gavin feel the same? Nines probably shouldn’t think about that right now, he had to end this date soon though, he wanted to watch TV before he had to do homework. 

“Yeah, sometimes in class you’d share glances? Thought it was just a friend thing,” Val gave an example, and grinned at their expressions. 

“Oh really? I thought I hid it pretty well?” Gavin seemed to have the same reaction, his eyes were giving a ‘holy shit I didn’t realize that happened’ look. 

“You guys are really bad at hiding things generally. Val probably knew the second she saw you two on that improv date,” Tina tilted her head towards Val, in a friendly, fun-poking way. 

Valerie laughed, “Yeah, once you-” She pointed at Nines with her fork, “Once you walked into the door it made a bit more sense. Thought it was just a crush or something.” She shrugged and continued eating her pasta. 

Oh yeah, they had food. Nines was so nervous he forgot everyone was eating. Of course, he didn’t have to eat since, you know, android parts or whatever. Still, it was a shock, he realized just how tense he really was. 

Thankfully, no one ate for too long during dessert. They shared a small cake and spoke a bit more. 

“But one last time, you guys are for real dating?” Tina checked in one more time, grinning. 

“I’m just as shocked as you are, Tina,” Gavin smiled, and Gavin passed his wallet to her to pay for the meal. 

“Well,” Nines stood up, hands on the table. “This has been so nice, thanks for the night!” He smiled at Tina and Valerie. 

“Yeah! I had a lot of fun hanging out here with you guys,” Valerie hugged him. “See you guys at class?” She asked both Gavin and Nines. 

“For sure,” Gavin fistbumped Tina, and hugged Valerie. “Paying for this, might as well attend.”

“That’s not the reason you should go to class,” Nines raised an eyebrow, smirking. “But better than nothing, I guess.”

After a few more goodbyes, Nines and Gavin finally escaped. Once they entered the car, and made sure they weren’t seen, Nines looked at Gavin. 

“Holy shi-“ Gavin let out a huge sigh of relief. 

“Give me the money,” Nines said, as he stared out the windshield, making a grabbing motion to Gavin at the same time. 

“Whatever,” He handed his friend the money. “So that was fun.”

“Yeah. Surprisingly not too bad!” Once Nines was triple-sure that Tina or Val weren’t watching, he turned to Gavin. 

“We almost got caught,” Gavin laughed. 

“Keyword: ‘almost’. But that was so much fun,” Nines put his hands behind his head, and rested back into the seat. “Also, we were apparently ‘in love’? And showing it?” He looked at Gavin questioningly. 

“I have no clue, honest to god,” Gavin seemed just as confused as Nines himself, who nodded along with him. 

Although Nines was a bit more thoughtful on that matter, he didn’t want to think of it much. Valerie was probably messing with them, and no doubt, someone had to have seen through their shit acting. No matter how proud Nines was of it, he wasn’t terrific. Who would’ve thought, the android designed to blend in was a bad actor?

“I’d be your fake partner again, if I’m honest,” Nines mumbled. 

“Hmm?” Gavin frowned, turning his head towards Nines. 

“I said: I’d be your fake partner, but only with some money,” Nines lied, although he didn’t know why. “Let’s go back home, please.”

If he was even more honest, he liked being in that position. Pretending to be Gavin’s partner was fun, he had something to focus on or whatever. But it’s not any sort of crush situation, Nines was way over that whole fiasco. He acted like an idiot for his very own idiot crush to notice him, but it never worked. Then their fight happened, and Nines snapped out of it really quick. 

“We have arrived!” Gavin said, gesturing grandly with both hands to the entrance to the parking garage. 

“Hands on the wheel,” Nines grunted, swatting at Gavin’s shoulder. 

“Whatever, whatever.”

As Nines got out of the car, Gavin called out, “Hey!”

“Yeah?” Nines turned around, head tilted slightly to the side. 

“If I have to do this again, I’m not sure if I can pay for it,” Gavin said sheepishly. “That was a big part of my wallet.”

Nines looked at Gavin as if he had spoken French. “I can give it back, dumbass,” He reached into his pocket for the money, but was stopped. 

“No, no! It’s fine, for real,” Gavin reassures. “I’m just saying that if you’re willing to go again, just know it’ll be without the pay.”

Nines wanted to say that he’d do it without the money, now that he knew how that whole thing worked, but he stopped himself. Catching feelings was not on his to-do list, and Gavin would tease him for years if those words came out of Nines’ mouth. 

“That’s fine,” Nines waved, and turned around for good, into the parking garage. 

Checking his phone as he walked up the stairs, he saw a few texts from Ada. 

“Hey?”

“You dead?”

“You alive fuck-o?” Typical, Nines laughed at that one. 

“I’m alive, don’t worry,” Nines texted. 

“Oh thank god, for a second I thought he’d actually have to keep that money,” She joked, and send a laughing-crying emoji along with the message. 

“Buttttttt how was it?” She texted. 

Nines took a second to respond. “Fun, honestly. Nice to hang with him again.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah? Idk how he feels about it though,” Nines typed. 

“Probably smth really edgy”

Nines smirked. It was probably true. Gavin may have fallen out of his emo ‘fashion’ phase, but he was, and likely always will be, still a true emo to heart. 

When Nines finally got back to his apartment, he got into more comfortable clothes and turned on his TV, and sat on his bed. He didn’t have time for homework at the moment, he wanted to binge watch some shows beforehand. It was his routine, after all. School, binge watch, homework. It never failed him, even if plans got in the way of his school, so he stuck with it. 

During his homework, Nines found that he was distracted by what happened earlier. And he meant distracted. Full on, can’t do work, just frustratingly scribbling and trying to forget Gavin’s face at the end, full of relief on how the night went. It was just too weird of a feeling, so he finally pulled out his phone, and texted Ada. 

“Guess what,” Nines typed. 

“What did you do now?” She responded instantly. 

“Absolutely nothing…”

“Except…” She prompted. 

Nines took a second, gathering up the courage to hit send. “I think I have a crush on him?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I’m not sure if this one specifically will be a series, although I did make this with the intention of using the ‘mutual pining’ trope, but I’m not sure We will see!! 
> 
> Criticism and feedback is appreciated, thank you so much for checking out my work!


End file.
